I'm confused as to what you guys are talking about. What mistake? Who's not recast? Are you referring to Spike being recast by James Marsden (currently starring in 27 Dresses), as opposed to James Marsters?

Sorry, I should have taken a closer look at the list. On the other hand, the person who wrote this article should know how to spell "Kristen".
Also, anyone think Jason Dohring could have made a better Angel than Josh Duhamel?

I...don't like this list. At. All. I like Kelsey Grammar, but think he would make a terrible Giles. Horrifying actually. What about Sean Bean? Ooh! Or Alan Rickman!

I like the Jason Dohring idea. In fact, let's have a Veronica Mars reunion, and have Kristen Bell as Buffy, Jason Dohring as Angel, and Tina Majorino as Faith. With car salesman* rental clerk Joss as the big bad!

You mean Joss the car rental clerk as the Big Bad, right? That sounds even more scary than the Mayor of Sunnydale as the Big Bad.

Yes, exactly! He'd be a combination of Car-Rental-Clerk Joss and River-Tam-Interrogating-Doctor Joss, with Mayor-like qualities and occasional Dances of Shame for good measure. Give him an apple peeler and a very fine hat, and you have one scary villian.

I'd recast the season's Big Bad as ... those photos. Honestly, forget Caleb or The Mayor, those photos scare the bejeesus out of me. I think Photoshop should have some kind of licence which can be revoked under the right provocation.

Don't know a lot of those names but of the ones I do know they wouldn't be my choice (which is super-cool, as usual, it's all just opinion anyway).

I can see Ellen Page as Willow and Justin Long as Xander. The only people I could ever see doing Spike, besides James Marsters, would be Johnny Depp or Heath Ledger (tragic loss - I feel terrible for his family).

I seriously, can not for one single second believe how utterly craptastic those choices are.
America as a Jewish, skin-flaying, lesbian witch? Ummmkay.
Angelina as a crazy, night dwelling creature who gets off on blood? Well, that one's not such a stretch, actually.

Combined with the incredibly woeful photoshop job (aaahhh- my eyes!) I have a teensy feeling that someone is peeing on my leg and blithely insisting that it's not raining.

Still, am somewhat glad that Kristen 'Come on a million people picked me at least take the time to spell my name right' Bell and Hayden 'Let's just cast the blonde cheerleader OMG LOL' Panty-Tear didn't get picked for this fake casting thing.

I don't see Justin Long as Xander at all. I think Shia Labeuf(the guy from Transformers) would be the perfect Xander. As for Leighton Meester as Buffy, that would be interesting, but one thing is for sure she's darn hot.

I can take a joke, that all this was for a lark. Okay, okay, but the thought of Kelsey Grammer playing Giles makes me want to stick two Sporks in my eyeballs. "This is Rupert Giles saying, 'Goodnight Sunnydale' and good, clean slaying." ... Whimper

Actually I love John Lithgow, he could play Giles. I'd rather have ASH but Lithgow could do it.
Also love Justin Long, so that would work for me too.
Hayden Panatierre could be Buffy, Ellen Page, Willow.

But Spike?
Cillian Murphy is pretty, and can do evil psycho, but can he do snarky bad ass?
Not seeing it. I can't really see anyone else who could do all facets of Spike properly.

Eh, I thought Grammer's take on Beast was one of the (few) bright spots in X3--Ellen Page being another notable one. Both he and John Lithgow could certainly do commendable jobs as Giles--although each would give a quite different take on it than ASH, obviously.

As far as Tina Majorino goes, I could see her more as Willow than Faith. Vulnerability+Computer Geek adds up very much to S1-2 Willow. VM had a great cast, really. That actress who played Kendall Casablancas would make a great Cordelia, too, I bet...

I was watching 3rd Rock from the Sun the other day and for a second I could see John Lithgow as Giles. And then, perhaps not.

Between Lithgow's role as John Whorfin in Buckaroo Banzai and out-Shatnering Shatner in the Twilight Zone movie...I think I'm getting a very different mental image of our favorite watcher re-envisioned than you are. And while it's not pretty...I somehow can't turn away.

I agree with marpocky. This is disgusting - an insult to Joss and the actors who played their roles. I can't imagine anyone playing their roles except them. I certainly could not accept anyone else as Angel except David Boreanaz. Way to go guys - we will never get a Buffy or Angel movie while presenting this kind of shallow fandom.

I kind of agree that this is an insult to Joss and all the actors who inhabited their roles to perfection and became those characters as well as the entire ME team who contributed to making it happen.
Even David Boreanaz, who is my least favorite actor on either BtS or AtS, simply is Angel. This is the kind of thing that belongs twenty years down the line, not a mere five years since the series ended.

SMG isn't my favorite actress in general (although I think she'd be a lot better if she chose better roles) but the idea of anyone else playing Buffy is simply not acceptable. She owned the role to a degree seldom seen on screen.

And the idea of anyone other than James Marsters as Spike is just ludicrous.
It's not a matter of talent of lack of same (I don't know half the choices, you wont find me watching something called Gossip Girls). But even on this thread, where Alan Rickman, one of my favorite actors on the planet, gets a mention for Giles, it misses the point. No offense to the marvelous Tony Head, but Rickman would clearly have stolen every scene he appeared in. Which was James Marsters' job. ;-)

I can't say I can get too upset about naming actors, seriously or otherwise, who could take on the roles already played by others. It could be argued that SMG is not the real Buffy, because she took over an already existing role.

I must admit, I know next to nothing about 'The Gossip Girls', but deciding never to watch it based on the title alone is surely like those people who refused to watch a show called 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' because of the title.

It's just a game. Pretty sure neither Joss nor the actors would be insulted by a bunch of fans shooting the shit about who else could hypothetically play the characters.

We all know that nameless internet fans don't actually have the power to cast any future Buffy movie, right ? It's a pub conversation basically, and should be treated with exactly the same seriousness IMO.

I know next to nothing about 'The Gossip Girls', but deciding never to watch it based on the title alone is surely like those people who refused to watch a show called 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' because of the title.

Actually I've seen a trailer, enough to justify my comment, IMO. And Steven Seagal as Giles? We are all doomed ;-)

Ew. Of all the list they were posted, i can't believe that's what they chose. It's awful. and i really,really, could've lived without those photos.there were so much better lists in the comments.Hmm. maybe they should've been posted there. I,personally, was too lazy to register for yet another site and just for a free tee.

I agree that re-casting discussions can be fun, but the choices on that site mostly miss the mark. I would suggest Adrianne Palicki for Buffy, Adam Brody for Xander, and David Tennant for Giles. Maybe Alia Shawkat for Anya.

If he could do a decent British accent, Jensen Ackles could easily pull off the menace, humor, pathos, and shirtlessness of Spike.

I don't think it's an insult to Joss, considering the fact that he replaced Kristy Swanson with Sarah Michelle Geller as Buffy when casting for the series.

That being said, all fun aside, I can't really imagine any other actors in these roles.

On the other hand, there's this thing that happens every time I watch the movie Blade. When there's a scene with Deacon Frost in it, my brain does this whole thing where I'm not even seeing Stephen Dorff on the screen. I'm seeing Christian Kane as Lindsey McDonald.

I like Justin Long, but also can't see him as Xander. Xander is dorky in dress and manner, but don't forget he's portrayed by Nicholas Brendon--a classic tall dark and handsome actor. This isn't quite the same as the cute, boyish, cuddly puppy dog looks of Justin Long.